In recent years, many companies have focused on emerging markets for growth, particularly as the US and European economies have slowed. Unfortunately, many companies have learned the hard way that expanding in to emerging markets is often fraught with peril.

M&A and partnerships are often the preferred methods to enter emerging markets, but they do not always lead to success. This is because the same methods for tackling due-diligence in developed countries simply do not apply to emerging markets.

In recent years, many companies have focused on emerging markets for growth, particularly as the US and European economies have slowed. Unfortunately, many companies have learned the hard way that expanding in to emerging markets is often fraught with peril.

M&A and partnerships are often the preferred methods to enter emerging markets, but they do not always lead to success. This is because the same methods for tackling due-diligence in developed countries simply do not apply to emerging markets.

In recent years, many companies have focused on emerging markets as a growth engine, particularly as the US and European economies have slowed due to the economic downturn. Unfortunately, corporations have learned the hard way that expanding into emerging markets is often fraught with peril. Take for example Home Depot’s foray into China. Home Depot entered the Chinese market in 2006 with the acquisition of The Home Way. Unfortunately, they experienced such poor results that Home Depot exited the market just six years later. Other companies such as Best Buy have suffered similar fates. Even Google and Amazon have failed to gain traction with their China growth strategies.

M&A and partnership are often the preferred methods to enter emerging markets but as the above examples illustrate, they do not always lead to success. This is because the same methods for tackling due-diligence in developed countries simply do not apply to emerging markets. There are two main reasons for this: (1) key assumptions that are made in developing countries do not hold true for emerging markets and (2) risks in emerging markets need to be compared to the local environment, not judged according the same standards used in developed countries.Clearly, due-diligence in emerging markets requires a more thoughtful approach. Applying the same process and criteria used in developed countries to emerging markets will uncover a vast number of red-ﬂags and deal-breakers—yielding little-to-no viable targets to acquire or partner with. At the same time, you don’t want to just ignore the risks and partner with anyone. Over time, we have developed the following framework to successfully approach due-diligence in emerging markets. This framework allows you to employ a thorough due-diligence process, while also adapting your approach to the uniqueness required for emerging markets.

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A MORE ROBUST APPROACH TO EMERGING MARKET DUE-DILIGENCE

Information availability:

Key Lesson:

If the target can’t provide adequate information, you may need to work with them to gather the data you need.

In developed markets, due-diligence processes are designed with the assumption that all appropriate information is readily available. If all the information requested is not provided, it gives the impression that the target is poorly managed—or worse, is trying to hide something. However, in emerging markets, there could be many reasonable explanations as to why information is not available. Even though the target is ﬁnancially strong, perhaps they don’t have good accounting systems. Or the target could have the information you need but due to the language barrier they don’t understand what exactly you’re looking for.In emerging markets, you need to be ready to work with the target company to help gather the information you need. For

This framework allows you to employ a thorough due-diligence process, while also adapting your approach to the uniqueness required for emerging markets.

What due diligence in developed markets assumes at the outset……is largely inapplicable to emerging market diligence efforts